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Review
. 2009 Oct;22(4):552-63.
doi: 10.1128/CMR.00027-09.

Modern uses of electron microscopy for detection of viruses

Cynthia S Goldsmith  1 , Sara E Miller
Affiliations
Review

Modern uses of electron microscopy for detection of viruses

Cynthia S Goldsmith et al. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2009 Oct.

Abstract

Electron microscopy, considered by some to be an old technique, is still on the forefront of both clinical viral diagnoses and viral ultrastructure and pathogenesis studies. In the diagnostic setting, it is particularly valuable in the surveillance of emerging diseases and potential bioterrorism viruses. In the research arena, modalities such as immunoelectron microscopy, cryo-electron microscopy, and electron tomography have demonstrated how viral structural components fit together, attach to cells, assimilate during replication, and associate with the cellular machinery during replication and egression. These studies provide information for treatment and vaccine strategies.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Negative stain of a small naked icosahedral virus (poliovirus). Bar, 100 nm. Magnification, ×100,000. (Courtesy of Joseph Esposito, CDC.)
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Negative stain of a medium naked icosahedral virus (polyomavirus). Bar, 100 nm. Magnification, ×100,000.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Negative stain of a large naked icosahedral virus (adenovirus). Note bead-like capsomeric structures that form flat triangular facets on the surface. Bar, 100 nm. Magnification, ×100,000.
FIG. 4.
FIG. 4.
Negative stain of an enveloped virus with clear surface projections (influenza B virus). Bar, 100 nm. Magnification, ×100,000. (Courtesy of Frederick A. Murphy, CDC.)
FIG. 5.
FIG. 5.
Negative stain of an enveloped virus with such short surface projections that they are not often visible in negative stains (rubella virus); the nucleocapsids inside are not morphologically distinct. Some particles are outlined by the stain, showing the surface of the virus (arrow), and some are penetrated by the stain (arrowhead) allowing visualization of the interior of the virus. Bar, 100 nm. Magnification, ×100,000. (Reprinted from reference with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright 1986 Wiley-Liss, Inc., a subsidiary of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)
FIG. 6.
FIG. 6.
Negative stain of an enveloped virus with icosahedral nucleocapsid (herpesvirus). The envelope has surface projections that are not readily visualized in clinical material. Bar, 100 nm. Magnification, ×100,000. (Courtesy of Erskine L. Palmer, CDC.)
FIG. 7.
FIG. 7.
Negative stain of a helical (like a Slinky) nucleocapsid of Nipah virus. Bar, 100 nm. Magnification, ×100,000.
FIG. 8.
FIG. 8.
Negative stain of a poxvirus particle where the surface is covered by short filaments. Bar, 100 nm. Magnification, ×100,000.
FIG. 9.
FIG. 9.
Thin section of a paracrystalline array of a naked DNA virus (adenovirus) in the nucleus of an infected cell. Bar, 100 nm. Magnification ×20,000.
FIG. 10.
FIG. 10.
Thin section of a naked RNA virus (Nodamura virus) produced in the cytoplasm, here seen in paracrystalline arrays. Bars, 100 nm. Magnification, ×20,000. Inset magnification, ×70,000. (Courtesy of Alyne Harrison, CDC.)
FIG. 11.
FIG. 11.
Thin section of an enveloped DNA virus (herpesvirus). Nucleocapsids are produced in the nucleus (small arrowheads); they can bud out through the nuclear membrane (large arrowhead) to obtain their outer covering, or sometimes they make their way into the cytoplasm naked and then bud into cytoplasmic vesicles or out into extracellular space through the plasma membrane (arrow). Bar, 100 nm. Magnification, ×20,000. (Courtesy of Alyne Harrison, CDC.)
FIG. 12.
FIG. 12.
Thin section of an RNA virus produced in the cytoplasm. SARS coronavirus particles (arrows) obtain their envelope by budding through the membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum. Bar, 100 nm. Magnification, ×20,000.
FIG. 13.
FIG. 13.
Electron tomography. (A) Simian immunodeficiency virus viewed frozen hydrated and unstained in a cryo 300-kV transmission electron microscope; glycoprotein spikes and the internal core are visible. (B) Four 1-nm-thick slices from a tomogram. (C) Computer-generated three-dimensional reconstruction of one viral particle seen in panel B. Bars, 50 nm. Magnification, ×100,000. (Reprinted from reference .)
FIG. 14.
FIG. 14.
Scanning EM image of HIV budding from the cell surface of a lymphocyte (arrow). Bar, 100 nm. Magnification, ×50,000.
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